News Scan for Turkey, July 05th 2017

Our Justice March might be attacked as we reach İstanbul, says chair of Turkey’s CHP

As the Justice March in Turkey nears to be finalized, the leader of the main opposition CHP stated on Monday (July 3) that there have been warnings about a possible increase in the frequency of attacks and provocations as the marching groups get closer to İstanbul.

Talking to Murat Yetkin from Hürriyet newspaper on Tuesday (July 4), Kılıçdaroğlu gave further details about the information they received regarding the potential provocations.

http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/our-justice-march-might-be-attacked-as-we-reach-istanbul-says-chair-of-turkey-s-chp-168270.html

Turkey: Greek coast guards fire on Turkish vessel in Aegean

Turkey on Monday condemned what it called an “excessive act” by Greece after Greek coast guards fired on a Turkish freighter ship near the Greek island of Rhodes. The freighter’s captain, Haluk Sami Kalkavan, told Turkish media on Monday that the Greek coast guards approached his vessel in international waters, demanded that it dock at a port in Rhodes and fired on it when he refused. He said his crew counted 16 bullet holes on the vessel but the ship was not in danger of sinking.

The Greek Coast Guard said it tried to stop the vessel following “an anonymous telephone complaint” that it was carrying narcotics. It said the ship was in Greek waters.

“Warning shots were fired but the ship did not change course,” the Greek Coast Guard said. “The competent Turkish authorities have been informed of the incident.”

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-greek-coast-guards-fire-turkish-vessel-aegean-48418679

Turkey to build its own aircraft carriers – Erdogan

Turkey is “committed” to building its own aircraft carriers the Turkish President has said. Recep Tayyip Erdogan added that Ankara is seeking self-sufficiency in its defense industry and will not allow anyone to block its military initiatives. “We will build our own aircraft carriers,” Erdogan said at the launching ceremony of the new Turkish Kinaliada Corvette at the Istanbul Navy shipyard.

The Kinaliada Corvette has been built locally under Turkey’s MILGEM national warship program aimed at building frigates with anti-submarine capabilities based on Turkish domestic technologies. The Kinaliada is the fourth Ada class corvette built under this project as three such corvettes had already been commissioned by the Turkish Navy.

The Kinaliada Corvette will be fully operational by 2019, Turkish media report. Erdogan emphasized that his country should develop a self-sufficient defense industry, which, he said, is “critical to Turkey’s security.”

https://www.rt.com/news/395178-turkey-aircraft-carriers-erdogan/

Turkey will not be drawn into Gulf fight

Every major development that has taken place in the Middle East in recent years has one thing in common: directly or indirectly, all of them were intended to hurt Turkey. At least since 2010, global players have been working hard to target the country’s short- and long-term interests. It might seem unrealistic to believe that undermining Turkey’s interests is the sole driving force behind regional developments. Clearly, Turkey isn’t the only target, but it is main target because it’s the only regional power with a genuine sense of agency. Like their grandfathers 100 years ago, Western policymakers maintain that bringing the Turks to their knees is absolutely necessary for them to control the Middle East – which is why Turkey’s own ‘Westernists,’ still suffering from an inferiority complex, try to mock Ankara’s regional efforts.

https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/fahrettin-altun/2017/07/05/turkey-will-not-be-drawn-into-gulf-fight

Forest fires hit Turkish coasts

Increasing temperatures, coupled with falling humidity, for the past several days has escalated the risk of forest fires across the country. The fires in İzmir and Mersin that started three days ago continued yesterday, said officials, while the third major fire in Kaş, in the southeast, was partially under control.

The fire in Menderes, İzmir, which has already destroyed 800 hectares of forest land, created a scare when it almost got out of control again due to winds.

Firemen intervened both from land and air to stop its spread, with one fireman breaking his arm in the process. In Anamur, Mersin, where a fire has destroyed 200 hectares of forest in three days, officials started the cooling process to prevent its resumption. Forestry officials have said that 97 percent of all fires are caused due to human error.

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2017/07/04/forest-fires-hit-turkish-coasts

Turkish stocks clock up another record high

Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul 100 share index opened 88.50 points up on Wednesday to reach a record 101,296.29 points. The 0.09 percent rise on Tuesday’s close saw the Istanbul-based market reach its highest value since opening in 2012. The banking and holding sectors rose 0.01 percent and 0.08 percent respectively and shares in the electricity index performed strongest, rising 0.47 percent.

The food and beverage sector was the only one to register a fall, dropping 0.04 percent.

The BIST 100 stood at 101,207.79 points at Tuesday’s close and the day saw total trading volume of 4.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.3 billion).

http://www.yenisafak.com/en/economy/turkish-stocks-clock-up-another-record-high-2748566

Students in Turkey probed over banners unfurled at graduation ceremony

School management of Turkey’s Akdeniz University has launched an investigation against a group of students from the journalism department for having unfurled banners that had message criticizing the ongoing massive oppression and rights violations imposed in the name of state of emergency.

Students of Turkey’s Boğaziçi University protest the appointed rector at graduation ceremony Students of Turkey’s Boğaziçi University protest the appointed rector at graduation ceremony. Students were called by the school management a month after their graduation ceremony, where they had unfurled banners that read ‘Where is Silivri (prison)? I’ve just graduated!’; ‘Are you going to get your degree or shall we call the cops?’; ‘We’ve graduated even according to Anadolu News Agency’; ‘Educators on hunger strike – Gülmen and Özakça – are not alone.’

School management demanded around 20 graduated students to come to the campus and ‘testify’.

http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/students-in-turkey-probed-over-banners-unfurled-at-graduation-ceremony-168299.html

05.07.2017
compiled by Editor BTT

This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.